Promotional spots for ETSU men, women running on massive LED boards located near New York City's Times Square, Penn Station

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (March 25, 2010) - Though its seasons may have come to an end, both the ETSU men's and women's basketball programs have continued to garner major exposure for the university over the last week in the world's largest media market.

For the last eight days, 30-second advertising spots highlighting the successes of both the Buccaneers' men's and women's programs have been running three times an hour on two different massive LED displays located in New York City. A 26-foot wide, 20-foot high screen located at the CBS Spectacular in the Times Square District, and a 20-foot wide, 16-foot high screen located at Macy's Herald Square - the world's largest department store - have told the story of ETSU basketball to over 1.5 million people a day.

Funding for the advertising was provided through a monetary gift from Mullican Flooring in Johnson City, and ETSU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Dave Mullins said this exposure is just another example of how ETSU athletics can educate people around the country about the university.

"We consistently talk about how athletics is critical to promoting the overall institution," Mullins said. "This is just another example of an opportunity that only athletics could provide. This is not made possible if we don't succeed as an athletics program, specifically with men's and women's basketball.

"And we want to thank CEO Neil Poland and our friends at Mullican Flooring for providing the financial support to make it happen. Without their gift, this would not have happened."

Poland said his company was pleased to be able to help.

"Mullican Flooring is happy to support ETSU and ETSU athletics," Poland said. "When this opportunity came about we jumped on it immediately. New York City is one of our largest markets, so it was a perfect fit for us. It was a win-win situation."

The Bucs and Lady Bucs, who finished their 2010 championship seasons with losses in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, have logged countless amounts of coverage on radio, television and newspaper over the last three weeks in preparation for March Madness. That coverage in terms of real dollars and exposure is well into the millions.

"It's impossible for our university to purchase this type of media exposure without athletics," Mullins said. "And having the chance to bring our story to the center of the nation's media world is exciting. We were very happy that this opportunity came our way."

The 30 second spots were produced and edited by John Stevens of the Buccaneer Sports Network, and both are available for viewing at ETSUBucs.com and ASun.TV.